On Today’s Sunday Shout-Outs, here are a few shoutables…
This post, Guard Your Gates by Sarah Bessey. Here’s my favorite line: “So, no, I don’t guard my gates against simply terrible or scary things anymore. Instead, I want to guard my gates against what diminishes wholeness and holiness in me. I guard against the influences that make me the worst version of myself, the influences that feed my… Read More
You’ve probably heard all about it already.
Over the weekend, Kanye did another one of those Kanye things that makes him look like a self-important jerk.
Quoting from The Independent:
The star stopped the show in Sydney on Friday night and insisted that every member of the audience got up and danced.
Kanye told the crowd: “I can’t do this show until everybody stand up. Unless you got a handicap pass and you get special parking and s**t.” While nearly everyone stood up, Kanye spotted two people still seated and called… Read More
Because I’m a pastor, I pretty regularly get followed on Twitter by other Christian leaders (that I don’t know) from all over the place. And for some reason, I receive a weekly e-mail from Twitter showing me these new followers – along with their profile picture and Twitter bio.
These Twitter bios make me feel like a total loser.
Let me explain. They say things like…
“NY Times Best Selling author of 14 books, senior pastor of the 23,000-member Hope of the World Church, international speaker and business consultant, entrepreneur, recording artist, fashion designer, coach, mentor, mogul, part-time professor of theology, cultural architect, health & fitness guru, Christian radio host, father of 4 beautiful children, husband, man of God, ultra-marathon runner.”
Dang. That’s incredible. How do you do all that stuff?
And thanks for reminding me that I suck.
Even this “Twitter Bio Generator” comes up with bios that sound better than I actually am… Read More
Leadership—specifically Christian leadership—is a messy business. It’s messy because it’s never pure. The motive behind what we do is a mixture of Ego, Ambition, & Holy Calling. And there is this shadowy dark side that goes along with our leadership strengths – what I call the Underbelly of (Christian) Leadership.
Is it possible to do great things without abusing power, inflicting damage on others, becoming a control freak, or leading with a sense of entitlement (breaking rules to satisfy personal desires)?
Is it possible to do great things without becoming Darth Vader?
In my opinion, it’s not.
Let me clarify: If the goal is ME DOING GREAT THINGS, I will inevitably abuse power, inflict damage on others, become a control freak, and lead with a sense of entitlement. If it’s about me doing great things, I will become Darth Vader.
Not too many years ago, my goal was to someday have a church of 10,000 people. And my motive was a mixture of… Read More
Several years ago, I heard a well-known mega-church personality talk about the imperfect blend of motivations behind every Christian leader who has a platform and a microphone. He said,
“I’m a piece of work. All pastors are. Think about it. What makes me believe I should be standing here on this stage with a microphone in my hand telling all of you what to think and do? That’s pretty messed-up.”
I loved hearing him acknowledge the fact that our motivations are not 100% pure all the time. There is a constant mixture of ego, ambition, and holy calling that fuels our leadership endeavors.
This isn’t necessarily an evil thing.
I’m generally thankful for ambition. Ambition gets stuff done. And I appreciate some of what ego brings to the… Read More
